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The Chopstick Trick: An exercise in fluidity
Roleplay: Sarutobi Seikaku: Sitting at a nearby sushi stand was a man of few words and fewer real tolerances, but lately he had found himself pushing his own limits for the usual antics of gennin so as to properly react to the young shinobi he was to be teaching. Seikaku held his chopsticks in his left hand in a fashion most would consider a little unusual, though it served him well in lifting the sushi from his plate and popping it into his mouth easily. He made a game of it same days for he civilian children, testing to see from how far he could chuck the sushi and still catch it in his mouth. It was who he was; serious at work but never skipping a chance to appeal to the people he worked to protect. Today however he was left in solace, chewing the sushi and mulling over his own thoughts as he attempted to enjoy his lunch undisturbed by those matters which required the attention of a kage. Somehow he knew he would be bothered, though, and so he kept his ears open and attempted to relish the time he had before something would require his attention. Senju Tensui: *stalking around the village proper, a young gennin by the name Tensui was enjoying her day of peace, her eyes full of activity and her body filled ith energy she looked for something to keep herself entertained, though she was searching for some objective to appeal to her sense of challenge she couldnt help but hear her stomach rumble, looking around for somehwere to get a bite to eat she stumbles across the same sushi bar that her unaware sensei is enjoying a meal, she lifts the cover to the door and walks in quietly, seeing sensei and feeling bad that he is eating alone she goes over and sits with him ordering her own bbq eel and a bowl of crab meat and shrimp ramen, her favorite, she smiles at sensei as she sits down next to him and giggles lightly* "well hello sensei how are you today? im glad to see you got of your office for once" Sarutobi Seikaku: He nodded to the shop owner as she ordered and made a vague motion which Tensui would probably not fully understand unless she happened to catch him motioning at himself slightly. The shopkeep nodded and went to prepare the young kunoichi's order, and Seikaku turned to face her. He gripped a piece of sushi and then flung it into his mouth all the way from the counter to be caught with expert precision while still keeping eye contact with her. He chewed while offering her a blank stare before at last swallowing the morsel and saying, "Less hungry than you." He cracked his neck idly before lobbing another piece of sushi at his mouth with impressive accuracy, and then decided to test her own hand eye coordination. He waved at the man preparing sushi down the bar length, and produced a second pair of chopsticks from within his hakama. "You try," he stated as the sushi chef brought an eight-roll set of tempura shrimp rolls. Senju Tensui: *tensui would stare at her sensei blankly wondering what he had planned, then watches his crazy skill with the sushi, her eyes begin to widen from the amazement at the accuracy AND percision both put into the task he is performing, she takes the chopsticks he is offering her and tries to repeat his trick, though quite skilled with throwing weapons accuratly, and percisely, she was unable to understand the exact requiremets and ends up wth half a sushi in her mouth and half of the broken piece of food item on the floor* "oh man thats not good im sorry i wasted your sushi sensei" *she then gets on her hands andknees and cleans up her mess feeling bad* Sarutobi Seikaku: He followed the movement of her wrist more than anything, watching her maneuver enough to at least be able to throw the sushi at her own face. She had not done badly, in fact he had seen much worse attempts in passing throughout the many days he had spent over the years eating at this shop. He waved a hand dismissively at her apology as though it were inconsequential, and then easily gripped a piece of his own sushi. He reached out with his right hand and pulled back the sleeve over his left, revealing the entire length of his forearm to demonstrate. He locked eyes with her again and then stretched his arm out a slight bit at the elbo before loosing his wrist. His hand hung kind of limply at the end of his arm, causing the sushi to point straight up toward the ceiling before he would snap the arm toward his head and allow the wrist to roll until the sushi pointed at him, locking his wrist and releasing the chopsticks from it at the same time. The sushi flew straight for his mouth, and he caught it acceptingly. He chewed, demonstrated the motion slowly again, and then gesture for her to get another try. This would gauge whether or not he felt the need to go over calligraphy and fuinjutsu with her. Senju Tensui: *she watches his movements with furrowed brow to try and get the exact movement down, her eyes follow his hand exactly and her eyes widen and smiles bright thinking she understand now exactluy what he was doing, she takes a piece of her sushi not willing to ruin his and attempts the technique, locking her elbow and flicking her wrist as she snapped it back and landed the sushi dead in her mouth, perhaps a little too fast though, she went wide eyed and searched for a glass of water, grabbing one from another table and downing it to get the sushi unlodged, she smiled though, very bright and happily* "hehe yeah there we go! i DID IT! *suddenly, she remembers that shes in a resturaunt and gets dead quiet, blushing with emberrasement and sitting back down* Sarutobi Seikaku: Seikaku remained a little surprised by the speed at which this young girl seemed to catch on from observing, but then decided to step it up a notch. "Now," he started, reaching out to her headband and motioning a polite gesture to untie it. Once she would have allowed him to do so, he would fasten it back in place so that it covered her eyes. "Muscle memory," were his next words, challenging her to do the trick blindfolded on the memory of the motion alone. This, of course, was early impossible for a gennin. As of yet her muscles were probably not honed for such quick adaptation to something new, but he was curious nonetheless to see her progress in this regard. He would watch her arm carefully for signs of fluidity and rigidity, still judging whether or not he wanted to focus on encourage freedom of wrist movement with her. Senju Tensui: *she takes her headband off quietly and hands it to him without a word, a nervous look on her face but allowing him to do what he feels knowing it will benefit her immensly, she thinks at his words then her eyes widen* "dp you really think i can pull that off? Sarutobi Seikaku: "No," he said frankly, flicking another piece of sushi into his mouth before he continued the thought, "but... Success is not everything." He nodded as he chewed, deciding that this particular use of words was suitable. Her meal was almost ready by now, and would likely be done by the time she had either eaten or lost the rest of her sushi; at which time he would end the exercise and allow her to eat. Senju Tensui: *she tries to find a piece of sushi with the headband blocking her vision, her chopsticks fumble all over the table with a lack of any sort of orientation, she finally picks a piece up and smiles, after a few seconds she closes her eyes under the headband and focuses on where she is and where the sushi is, calculating and thinking hard, her face showing obvious critical thought patterns as he lip twitches on the left side slightly, slowly she extends her arm with her elbow slightly bent and concentrates hard, she flicks her wrist and lets go, the sushi although not i her mouth is smacked onto her forehead and the shopsticks fly wildly past me twords u* "oh no, i really messed up" Sarutobi Seikaku: Seikaku nodded at her attempt and then offered her another pair of chopsticks by placing them directly in her hands. He stood and retrieved the chopsticks she had dropped, as well as the shrapnel of the sushi which he placed on his now empty plate. He directed her hand back toward the sushi, and spoke simply, "Again, with patience." Senju Tensui: *she nods and picks up another piece with less trouble and a little sturdier, her hand still shaking though without being able to see, she closes her eyes under the headband again and focuses more, she extends her arm and puts the elbow back in the right position with her hand tense, she breathes in and out slower, relaxing her muscles some, her mind focused and body seemingly ready, she snas her wrist back and tries again with similar results, the sushi splattered on her headband but slightly closer and her chopsticks klinking off her headband* "darn it, so close" Sarutobi Seikaku: Electric green eyes studied the tense hand as she moved, taking in their motions easily as the sushi again exploded on her face. He stifled a chuckle, and retrieved the chopsticks once more. Again he pulled a fresh pair from beneath his hakama, leading one to question exactly why he carried so many pairs of chopsticks with him around the village. Seikaku retrieved the sushi shrapnel and placed it on his plate once more before stepping around her other side and taking hold of her hand and placing the chopsticks in it. He then placed a hand on her elbo and the other on her wrist, re-enacting in slow motion with her the fluid necessity of the trick. "Think... like water," he said as he mulled over the proper inspirational words. By now she had done three of her eight pieces, and had five more to go. Seikaku directed her hand back toward the sushi and sat down on the opposite side he had previously sat to observe from a new angle. Senju Tensui: *she took the chopsticks firmly into her hand and nodded, without any complaints or backsas she picked up another piece, she kept her eyes closed and mimiced the excact elbow placement she felt from him and sighed softly but in a long interval, her body slowly calmed and the tension that was likely throwing her off was also dropped, she stood for a good two minutes as her muscles relaxed more and more, now remembeing where the right combination of fluidity and pressure were, she snapped her wrist with whip like speed and the sushi went twords her mouth, but with all the thinking and escitement she forgot to open her mouth, the sushi on her lips, but splattered ther, she then sighed and groaned* "this excersise is making me so hungry, and i almost had it too, what a waste of delicious food" Sarutobi Seikaku: "Only yourself to blame," he chimed for a moment, as he made a gesture at the shopkeeper and waved vaguely at the menu hanging behind their counter. The keeper nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking it. It was astounding how much people understood his gesturing after time, even the children in this area were amused and rather apt at communicating with Seikaku with few words. The shopkeeper began to prepare Seikaku's order in addition to heading into the finishing stages of Tensui's order. "Four to go," he said simply as he stood to observe her from just over her shoulder. Again his electric green eyes studied her movements with careful consideration. It had taken her time to loosen up, in combat that amount of time would be unacceptable. He would teach her calligraphy and fuinjutsu after all; at least with the lesson she would be able to learn a new trick in combat. Seikaku waited for her next attempt, fully prepared for the possibility of food flying at his face haphazardly. Senju Tensui: *she took the piece of sushi quickly already a rough of idea of where they were now, she let her body relax again and deepened her breathing, making my breaths calm and slow, but also deep, as she focused and opened up her other senses, slowly releasing her grasp on the normal format of eyesight as a primary sense and gave in to balancing the rest in its absence, within a minute or so she was relaxed far beyond the other times and her elbow was extended as it should be, her wrist loose but fingers perfectly even with the tension of keeping the sushi within the chopsticks but not squeezing it at all, she flicked her wrist now and this time with her mouth wide open got it into her mouth very smoothly, she took a moment to calculate what she just did then jumped up and down* "YES YES YES! Sensei i did it!" Sarutobi Seikaku: He nodded in approval, placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her jumping so that she wouldn't fall or make a mess in her temporary blindness. He patted her twice, and then very plainly stated, "Three more." She had improved some over the last attempt taking less time to relax, but now Seikaku wondered how much her excitement would interfere with her success. Surely the outburst had caused her to tense up again, and he was curious what kind of self control she could really exhert over herself. He moved to take his original seat and observe her performing the exercise once more, studying her posture and breathing this time to further grasp the process she was going through to unwind. Senju Tensui: *she nods happily and picks up another piece roughly, getting ready to instathrow it and ruin what she worked for, she got her arm horribly posed and hand sloppily set up and was about to fling it horribly but stopped herself* "no i must gather myself, haste makes waste if the effort is in vain and proves no progress" *she sighs and closes her eyes back up, focusing her mind and body again, removing her sight and replacing it with touch, and audio presence, her muscles go back to the relaxed state as she moves her muscles to where she remembers them when the attempt worked, after she resets the position she takes a few second longer to relax her entire body, breathing in slowly and exhaling slowly, once she feels comfortable she repeats the actions, finging her wrist, letting go at the right angle and speed, oppening her mouth, and letting the sushi glide in* Sarutobi Seikaku: He nodded some as he studied her movements, reaching up to idly scratch at the scruff along his face. She had two left to go, and her food was now being plated. It would likely sit in front of her for a moment before she had finished, but that would probably serve he well since it would give her food time to cool. His own food was being plated as well, and he watched the shopkeeper for a moment before returning his attention to Tensui to see her finish the exercise. This time he would rap his fingers in succession across the counter top, a subtle attempt to introduce a new and unfamiliar catalyst to the exercise in an effort to distract her. Senju Tensui: *she picked up one of the last two sushi pieces with ease and smiled, she felt she had the hang of this excersise but knew it was only with the sushi and perfecting it would be much more difficult, she kept her eyes closed and kept focus on what was happening with her, already compleatly tuned out around her as she focused on her own muscle relaxation and tensions to get it right again, the tapping never even being tuned into her ears, she repeated the process with ease this time already getting the rythm and timing down as well as the proper muscle control* Sarutobi Seikaku: Their food arrived as she was grasping her second to last piece of sushi, steaming and offering its scent to them as a greeting. Seikaku reached out to his food easily and blew on it, cooling it with little effort as he produced yet another fresh pair of chopsticks from his hakama and stuck them into the hot bowl of noodles. He then began to noisily shovel the food into his mouth not but a few feet from her where he sat, holding the bowl closely to him. The scents of their food would likely draw some measure of her attention, and his purposefully obnoxious eating would surely have some effect. He passively continued to eat his food noisily, focusing still on her movements and process so as to study any flaws in the process and weed them out. Eventually he would train those shortcomings out of her and when she was finished with her training, she would be a finely honed killing machine. Senju Tensui: *she flung the piece of sushi now but as she was going she smelled her food and lost most concentration, the sushi stopping short more or less and plopping on the floor, her stomach growling terribly and her mouth salivating, her focus compleatly broken and her brain gone from any thoughts but eating, she failed and she knew it* "oh...man, no fair sensei" Sarutobi Seikaku: He shrugged, reaching out with the back of his chopsticks and lifting her headband up so that one of her eyes could see. He gestured toward the lost piece of sushi and suggested with his movements that she pick it up before returning the proper end of his chopsticks to his noodles and resuming his meal. He ate silently now, taking his time to enjoy the food as he shoveled it in bite by bite, meat and all. "Success is not the point," he said between mouthfuls. He nodded at her own food for her to eat, and intended for them to finish out their lunch in silence before potentially moving on to something else. Senju Tensui: *she followed his movement when he moved her headband to see and noticed what went wrong, biting her lip with frustration she took time to reflect on her lack of focus and tried to figure out a way around it, although the hunger in her stomach told her to save it for later. she picked up the piece of sushi and set it on the plate with the rest of the failed attempts and sat down across from him in silence, not only upset she didnt take time to account for distractions but that she know knew she was missing the point of the training, she looked at the foot with some of her will to eat broken but ate anyways, slowly eating but not tasting it as she reflected on what she did right and wrong and thought of what to do to fix the errors, she looked at sensei now and then a little intimidated by his seemingly endless knowledge and prowess but glad hes there for her* Participants: Sarutobi Seikaku Senju Tensui Category:Konohagakure Role-Play Category:Training